Most exhibitions at smaller galleries take less than an hour to look at closely and those in larger galleries rarely take upwards of two hours. If art is your chief interest then discovering a new slant is always useful. Exhibitions also bring the work of little-known artists to the fore and exposure to new and more obscure projects is equally important.

Great artists learn by reproduction and by witnessing as much art as possible. This is not at odds with your originality as artist. It simply gives you all the right weapons to attack your original ideas with or to approach things in a different way. Without exploring how things have been done by others, you might miss techniques and styles that are appropriate to your take on the world.

You must also assess the curatorial aspects of the show. Do the works chosen reflect the purpose of the exhibition? Do the rationale and the text accompanying each section of the exhibition do justice to the works on display and the overall argument?

If you think about these questions then you will be in a better position to understand where the curators are coming from in presenting you with this particular collection of works and not a different collection. Investigating this can be incredibly useful and it can help you to get more out of the show.

If you want to put your savings into an investment and you don’t need the cash to hand for emergencies then you can do a lot worse than to pick a piece of art that you love and buy it. It is unlikely to lose its value and if you choose well then it could increase in value a great deal over the coming years.

People will pay good money for tuition in the form of art classes or groups, so it is worth looking into local opportunities to help you set something up. This is something that could earn you a handsome sum of money for a few weeks at a time without demanding too much of your time.

It is also possible to put your knowledge of the art world to good use by working in a gallery or a museum. Once you are in the door, there are opportunities to move up in the world, which is why so many art students volunteer at galleries first.

Finally, it is important that you recognise how hard to find good artists are – especially those that are willing to work flexibly from project to project. Keep your eye on job sites dedicated to art, because these may throw up the odd temporary position that is perfect for your particular skills.

The chief cause of distress for people of this unfortunate age is that there’s suddenly a lot you can’t do for free anymore. Art is one of them.

Young people under the age of 26 with an EU passport can get into some of the best museums and galleries in the world that are based in Paris for free or for vastly reduced prices. It’s always worth taking your passport out with you up to the age of 25, but as soon as you cross that threshold that privilege is cruelly stripped from you.

Or so I thought.

One kind soul did take pity on me at the desk of the Pompidou Centre when I visited recently – no doubt well aware of the trauma so many 26-year-olds face when looking for art in the city nowadays.

Of course, if you are a fan of Impressionism then you can gorge yourself on the work of Van Gogh, Monet, Renoir and Manet at the Musee d’Orsay in Paris. Equally, if you love the work of Chagall, Braque or Picasso you can get your fill at the Pompidou Centre.

However, my favourite artist is Egon Schiele and his work is all over the place. Perhaps the most impressive Schiele collection belongs to the MoMA in New York which is a little out of my reach at the moment. In fact, the USA is home to a disproportionate number of Schiele masterpieces.

Conversely, there are occasions when you stumble across some of your favourite pieces by chance. A recent visit to the Pompidou centre led me into a room that boasted Portrait of the Journalist Sylvia von Harden by Otto Dix and Alice by Balthus – two stunning pieces it was a pleasure to see in the same room.

Ordinarily, I am keen to defend modern art because of its focus on the conceptual – something that is often overlooked as people look for obvious physical evidence of artistic talent and adherence to an aesthetic code geared towards creating an emotional response.

However, a recent visit to the Pompidou Centre caused a slight shift in my own thinking. There was so much art on display that failed even on a conceptual level that it left me feeling rather cold. Very little of what was on offer even displayed the sort of sense of humour or originality that is so evident in the work of some of the more successful artists of the past fifty years.

Fortunately, this has only made me keener to seek out the original and conceptually interesting projects out there. Regular visits to galleries have shown me that people are still coming up with fantastic ideas and that is what modern art is really all about.

Among the more famous suicidal artists are the following:

• Frida Kahlo
• Arshile Gorky
• Mark Rothko
• Vincent van Gogh

These are just a few of the artists whose creative capacities and psychological struggles went hand in hand. It’s often fascinating to look at the work of these artists as a way of studying the way they expressed their inner turmoil via the medium of painting.

I already had a little idea about Caravaggio’s story, but Schama’s narration and the vivid reconstructions gave it added weight and definitely made it exciting viewing as a far as biographies are concerned.

However, Schama also demonstrated the effect of the story on Caravaggio’s art in a way that seemed more than acceptable for art appreciators of all levels of expertise. He is careful not to bog down his story in technical terms from the art world and delivers his narration with trademark flair and intelligence.